NIH Unveils Dietary Supplements Webpage for Health Professionals

AAFP Offers Additional Resources on Dietary Supplementation

NIH's Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) has created a webpage(ods.od.nih.gov) designed specifically for health care professionals and other stakeholders. Among those the page aims to reach are physicians, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, dietitians and nutrition educators, as well as public health officers and those who educate and train these individuals.

Joyce Merkel, M.S., R.D., scientific and health communications consultant for the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, said via email: "The goal of this new webpage is to provide in one place up-to-date and evidence-based information to help health professionals discuss dietary supplements with their patients, clients, colleagues and students."

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Also, in the Jan. 15, 2016, issue of American Family Physician, Norman Marks, M.D., M.H.A., former medical director of the FDA's MedWatch program, wrote an editorial on how family physicians can address concerns about the safety of dietary supplements by working with the FDA.

Referencing the case of a healthy 18-year-old Ohio student who died from acute cardiac arrhythmia after an unintentional overdose of powdered caffeine, Marks said the FDA needs the active support of physicians in identifying and voluntarily reporting suspected serious adverse events or product quality concerns via MedWatch.

"These reports can then trigger the investigation, evaluation and risk-mitigation actions that can avert future patient harm from dietary supplement use," he said.